Facts & Figures

South Dakota’s agricultural exports are big business, supporting over 18,000 farm jobs in the state. NAFTA has had a major effect on South Dakota’s trade, and Mexico and Canada account for almost 60 percent of the state’s total exports.

Job Creation

Trade supported 114,500 jobs in South Dakota in 2008, or 20.3% of total jobs, up from 11.1% in 1992.¹
Nearly one-sixth (16%) of all manufacturing workers in South Dakota depended on exports for their jobs.²
In 2008, 8,800 people in South Dakota were employed by U.S. affiliates of companies that are at least 50% foreign-owned.³

Exports and Growth

South Dakota exported $1.0 billion in merchandise to more than 120 foreign markets in 2009. South Dakota’s largest market in 2009 was Canada ($376 million), followed by Mexico ($235 million), Hong Kong ($40 million), Germany ($36 million), and the United Kingdom ($33 million).⁴
In 2008, 633 companies exported goods from South Dakota. Of these, 82% were small- and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
Agricultural exports are important to South Dakota’s economy, totaling $3 billion and supporting about 34,749 jobs in 2008.⁵
Since 2007, the U.S. Export-Import Bank has financed $8.08 million in exports from 8 companies in 6 communities in South Dakota.⁶

Education and Research

In 2008–2009, 474 South Dakota students studied abroad, an 18.8% increase over the previous academic year.⁷
During 2009–2010, 1,089 international students were enrolled in South Dakota colleges and universities, a 17% increase over the previous year.⁸
Foreign students contributed over $15.4 million to the South Dakota economy.

Global Engagement

Since 1961, 567 Peace Corps volunteers from South Dakota have served in dozens of countries overseas.⁹

http://businessroundtable.org/uploads/studies-reports/downloads/Trade_and_American_Jobs.pdf
http://www.trade.gov/mas/ian/statereports/
http://www.bea.gov/scb/pdf/2010/11%20November/1110_us_ops.pdf
http://www.trade.gov/mas/ian/statereports/
http://www.fas.usda.gov/info/factsheets/WTO/states.html
https://webappsprod01.exim.gov/apps/usmap/usmap.nsf
http://www.iie.org/en/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors/Data/Fact-Sheets-by-US-State
http://www.nafsa.org/publicpolicy/default.aspx?id=23158
http://multimedia.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/stats/homestates.pdf